On Oct 29, 2010, at 10:41 AM, "John F. Sowa" <sowa@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Peter and Chris,
>
> PFB:
>>> Can you point me to a “classification *system*” that is not
>>> human-created?
>
> CM:
>> Of course not. No one is disputing that. The disputed claim is that
>> no such systems "reflect any 'natural' objective truth or set of
>> 'facts'". That is an utter non sequitur.
>
> That depends on whether the judge is a nominalist or a realist. (01)
I have to disagree, John. From the fact that classification systems are
human-created *alone* neither realism nor anti-realism follows. That was all I
was claiming. Also, I don't think the realism/nominalism distinction is on the
mark here. The medieval realism/nominalism debate concerned the existence of
abstract, platonic entities. That is not the type of realism I was referring to
in my post. The realism I was referring to is the doctrine that there is an
objective, external world in virtue of which our scientific theories are true
or false. Traditional nominalism is entirely compatible with realism in this
sense. What you describe seems to me to be what philosophers of science refer
to as instrumentalism. (02)
-chris (03)
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